


There's No "I" In Team

by PeggyPincurls



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes & Clint Barton Friendship, But they also make an incredibly bad team, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Gen, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Team Up, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-30 04:17:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16757521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeggyPincurls/pseuds/PeggyPincurls
Summary: In an as-yet-unpublished story in my Star-Spangled universe entitled "The Unreliable Narrator", it is mentioned that the team-up of SHIELD operatives Clint Barton and Bucky Barnes has been attempted, but the idea has been shelved indefinitely due to the...professional friction...between the two.In truth, it's due to this particular incident.





	There's No "I" In Team

**There’s No “I” In Team**

**

_And I’ve got a twenty-dollar bill_  
_That says you’re up late night starting fistfights vs. fences in your backyard_  
_Wearing your black eye like a badge of honor._

**(Taking Back Sunday, _There’s No “I” In Team_ )**

**

 

“This is no sweat,” Bucky repeated.

 

“You keep saying that,” Clint said, “but the thing is, I’m actually sweating kind of a lot.” The archer kicked the metal wall of their cell. “Stark and his fucking weapons. Couldn’t he just have done a recall or something?”

 

“It wasn’t a bad batch of lettuce contaminated with _e.coli_ , Barton,” Bucky said flatly. “What was he going to do? Knock on the door of every military base in the world and say ‘Excuse me, may I have my total destruction weapons back please?’”

 

“Never thought I’d see the day when you would stick up for Stark.”

 

“Miracles happen every day,” Bucky grumbled back, trying to see if there were any flaws in the walls to take advantage of. “ _He_ wasn’t the one who tripped the wire—that was _you_.”

 

They were both right. It was indeed because of Tony and his weapons that they were trapped in the cell. There had been news of an attack on a military convoy by A.I.M., and both men remembered how Tony had gone pale when he’d heard the reports. The bodies recovered—what little there was of them—indicated a weapon with an incredibly tight burst pattern, even long after the shot had left the barrel, essentially vaporizing the target. He’d known even before the intel had confirmed it that it had been one of the instruments of his past, the sort of thing his father Howard would have called one of his “bad babies”. But to be sure, he’d taken the advice of Nick Fury and sent a team ahead of him to scout the reported A.I.M. stronghold in the area, to ensure that they would be moving forward with just cause. Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier were that team, and the only good thing—if you could even call it “good”—to come out of their scouting mission was that they had indeed confirmed that the weapons A.I.M. were using were Stark Industries tech, obtained illegally on the black market. Unfortunately, upon attempting to withdraw, Clint had tripped an alarm, causing all the guards that they hadn’t already incapacitated to fall on them. Dream team that they were, even Bucky couldn’t be everyplace at once, and sheer force of numbers had both him and Clint overpowered before long. 

 

Now they were sitting in a cell, and Clint was pacing restlessly while Bucky tried to pry off any section of the wall that looked weak. There didn’t seem to be any.

 

“Oh, like _you_ never fucked up on a mission.”

 

“Only once, and I paid with an arm,” Bucky snarled.

 

“Speaking of arms, why are you even bothering with that? Even if you manage to find an opening, there’s no way your broad-ass shoulders are going to fit through it, and if they hear you knocking around they’re going to come here and taser us again. No thanks.” Clint crossed his arms over his chest. “I know _you_ don’t care if they pull your tin arm off, but I just got mine the way I like them—attached at my shoulders.” Almost immediately, he realized how insulting that was, and said, “Sorry, Barnes. That was a shitty thing to say. I’m just not great at being caged up.”

 

“No worries, Hawkass. You can grovel when I get you out of your gilded cage,” Bucky mocked, unruffled. He left off messing with the walls for the time being and walked over to Clint. “Check this out.”

 

He propped one boot on the wall and began prying off its heel. Clint was about to ask him why he’d sacrifice his balance like that, but his question was answered when he saw that it was hollowed out, with their failsafe hidden inside.

 

“You dog,” he said, impressed at the nearly flat discs Bucky displayed like a card trick. “Those make c4, don’t they?”

 

“Here’s where you come in,” Bucky said. “I smuggled in some det-cord, too, and be glad we didn’t get shot at too much because it’s got extra flammable coating. But I could use your help getting it out.”

 

This dropped Clint back into confusion. “How do you mean?”

 

“I was kind of flying blind back there, and it was hard to reach. Damned arm. I sort of shoved it somewhere in there, but since you’re here and it’ll be easier for you, if you could just take a look and grab it we’ll be out of here that much faster.” He turned halfway to give Clint his back.

 

Oh... _oh_.

 

“Uhhhh,” Clint said aloud, suddenly unsure if escape was worth it. “Are you sure I should be?”

 

“You see another cell mate in here?”

 

“But...but you hate to be touched,” Clint defended. Wow, he so did not want to do this.

 

“I’ll live. Want to get a move on?”

 

“Not really all of a sudden!” Clint chuckled. “Anyway, what if a guard comes by?”

 

“Pretend we’re having a slumber party.” Bucky rolled his eyes. “Would you quit being such a baby and get on with it? I could do it myself, but it’d be easier if you did. _You_ can see back there, at least.” He went so far as to fully turn his back, and Clint’s internal panic alarm started ringing a klaxon.

 

“I can’t,” he said simply, putting his hands up to ward his companion off. “It’s too weird.”

 

Bucky huffed. “If I were Nat, would this make a difference?”

 

“ _Yes_ , it would be _even weirder_ ,” Clint said. “Maybe not for _you two_ , because God only knows what you two get up to behind closed doors— _and don’t tell me_!—but she’s like my sister. What the hell, man?”

 

“ _You_ what the hell,” Bucky argued, looking over his shoulder. “You were the one so damn hot to get out of here a second ago. They threatened to tear off my arms and put spikes through your eardrums. Suddenly that seems like a better deal?”

 

“ _No_.” Clint rubbed at the space between his eyebrows. “Look, Barnes, we’re cool and all, but this is a little closer than I want to get to you.”

 

Bucky turned his head towards the ceiling in the classic expression of praying for patience. “You are an utter child.”

 

“Can I at least borrow your glove?”

 

Bucky half-turned. “ _Why_ on _earth_ would you need my glove?”

 

Clint was thunderstruck. “You really expect me to reach in there without a glove on?! Doesn’t this bother you at all? Even a little bit?”

 

Bucky’s patience was visibly coming to an end. “What the _shit_ is wrong with you, Barton?”

 

“The _shit_ is _exactly_ what’s wrong with me, okay?!” Clint barked. “Forgive me if I’m not exactly comfortable with it, especially if you won’t even lend me a goddamn glove. They’re right about you, you know. You’re out of your mind.”

 

“They’re right about _you_ ,” Bucky shot back. “You are a pain and a child and a nuisance to work with and an unutterable _ass_.”

 

“Would you stop saying things like _ass_?” Clint demanded through gritted teeth.

 

“Barton...” From the sound of it, Bucky’s teeth were also gritted.

 

“ _Fine_. Goddamnit, _fine_.” Clint took a step forward and grabbed Bucky by the hip.

 

Everything greyed out for a few seconds, and when he came back to himself he realized he’d hit the wall hard from the force of the mule kick Barnes had administered, and that the Winter Soldier now had him in an arm bar, snarling.

 

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

 

Clint wriggled free enough to administer a sharp knife strike to Bucky’s ear, and the winter soldier stumbled back, letting go.

 

“ _Me_?! what the hell is wrong with _you_?!” Clint barked. “You’re the one making this weird. Maybe you and Nat have been conditioned to do whatever it takes to get the job done, but sue me if I need a minute or two to acclimate myself to the idea that my partnership with you entails helping you with your decision to _prison smuggle_ your tools past guards.”

 

Bucky normally would have berated Clint for nearly shouting this when they could be overheard, but he was too busy widening his eyes as the misunderstanding finally became clear to him. It was also Bucky’s own fault that eight minutes later, he would have to execute their escape plan on his own, lugging an unconscious Clint over his shoulder like a sack of grain, but at the time his frustrated brain thought it was a small price to pay for the momentary satisfaction of knocking his foolish, immature partner’s block off.

 

The last thing Clint heard before Bucky punched his lights out was, “It’s in my _hair_ , you imbecile.”

**Author's Note:**

> And that, Constant Reader, is why Bucky and Clint are absolutely not allowed to work together anymore. When I finally get around to posting "The Unreliable Narrator", that story explains who Bucky does end up partnered with and why.


End file.
